Campaigns Spar Over Coal's Future

By

Tennille Tracy

Sept. 23, 2012 8:22 p.m. ET

A handful of utility companies are determined to buck the trend toward natural gas and break ground on what could be the last new conventional coal-fired power plants in the U.S. The moves come as the presidential campaigns spar over the future of coal power.

The companies—in Texas, Georgia and in other states—are pushing ahead with roughly a half-dozen coal-burning plants that have long been in planning, and have until April 2013...